TOC: Rumors, assumptions and hot cheese
by SerenityInTheBlack
Summary: Sky and Bridge have a relationship discussion. Second story in the 'That Old Cliche....' series.


Notes:Rumors, assumptions and hot cheeseis thesecond in a series of small one-shots that deal with various cliché's I've come across in a somewhat different manner than usual. The overall title of the series will be 'That Old Cliché...'

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That Old Cliché...: Rumors, assumptions and hot cheese.

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Sky Tate was by en large a content man. Gruum had been defeated and imprisoned, SPD headquarters had finally been repaired, and he had made the transition to being field leader of the B-squad in a completely satisfactory way. With peace essentially returned, and the pressures of the war against the Troobian forces lifted, everything at SPD seemed to have been taken down a notch in intensity. They were still the premier police force on the planet, but without the threat of Gruum's troops, the ordinary villains weren't causing too much trouble.

He and the other Rangers had an opportunity to live almost regular lives again, and for the most part he appreciated that. Unfortunately, one aspect of having a regular life was very against SOP for Space Patrol Delta. The Sirians had never allowed couples to serve in the same active unit, because much like earth based military and police organizations it was considered both a conflict of interest and a possible hazard to the rest of the teams health if someone was more concerned with their significant other than they were about beating the bad guy.

Which brought Sky back to the reason he was about to knock on Bridge's door. He had heard some rumors that Bridge and Z were breaking the SPD code section 4.15, which specified that you didn't date your coworkers, and it was Sky's job to find out if those rumors were in any way true, and if so deal with them. Z and Syd were currently out on a local patrol, so that left him with Bridge to ask, and if Sky was uncomfortable with having this sort of discussion, it was one of his responsibilities as the leader of the team.

He knocked on the door and heard Bridge's voice through the door inviting him in, and wasn't at all surprised to find his colleague standing on his head. Sky had worked with Bridge for several years now, and yet always seemed to be surprised when he did something unorthodox. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought it was an intentional thing to throw people off. Of course he did know better, and knew that Bridge couldn't be anything but what he was.

"What's up?" Bridge asked, and then thought for a second. "Or upside down I suppose?"

"I need to talk to you for a minute," Sky answered as bridge rolled out of his handstand and got to his feet. "I've been hearing some rumors, and I need to know if they're true."

Bridge looked at him, and seemed to be mentally running down a list of rumors, then the blue Ranger shrugged. "I've heard at least forty different rumors in the last couple of days, most of them involving what Commander Cruger is doing on his vacation with his wife. Did you have a specific one in mind?"

Sky decided to forget subtlety, it wasn't his strong point anyway. "I've heard that you and Z are dating."

"Ah, that rumor. I've heard that one too," Bridge responded with that same little half smile he seemed to carry around.

Sky sighed internally. He knew that Bridge wasn't trying to be difficult, but at the same time, he did need an answer. "I'm not going to ask you if it's true, I'm just going to remind you that section 4.15 of the code specifies that you can't do that while both serving on an active team. So if there's anything you need to tell me, do it now."

"Do you like fondue?" Bridge asked, and Sky's eyes widened in almost comic surprise. Of all the possible things he had expected Bridge to respond, that had never even made the list.

"What?" he asked, confusion obvious.

"Fondue," Bridge elaborated. "Bits of bread dipped in hot cheese, usually served in expensive restaurants."

"Why?" he asked suspiciously. Bridge had a tendency to go off on tangents, and while he was usually quite capable of keeping up, he didn't quite grasp the link between Z and fondue, barring that cheese an Z's clothing tended to be yellow.

"Well, my parents are in town. They heard about the fight at SPD headquarters and wanted to see me. Z and I were just finishing our patrol when they called that they'd arrived, and asked if I wanted to go out for dinner to catch up. Z was hungry so I invited her along."

Sky nodded, "And somebody saw you and Z eating together in a nice restaurant and jumped to conclusions." It made perfect sense, and was a very natural thing to do for Bridge. It probably didn't occur to him that taking your coworker to meet your parents at a restaurant could easily be misconstrued as a date. He didn't doubt the younger man's story for a second, as Bridge had never lied to him, and personally Sky had always felt that Bridge was simply incapable of intentionally deceiving someone anyway.

"Probably. That's rumors for you," Bridge shrugged. It's a bit of a cliché though don't you think? Two co-workers sneaking around and dating and going out for dinners while their friends stumble about unawares?"

Sky almost grinned at that, and inclined his head in agreement. "It is a bit."

"Did you believe the rumors?" Bridge asked.

Sky thought about that one for a second, and was surprised at how quickly the answer came back to him. He had never seriously entertained the idea that both Bridge and Z would be willing to break regulations, let alone do it in such a stupid and obvious manner. Both Bridge and Z were smarter than that. Still, he had wanted to get the story straight from Bridge so that he could look anyone who told him about the rumor in the eye and deny it. He shook his head in answer to the question. "No, but I had to check,"

Bridge nodded. "I understand, as Red Ranger you've got a duty to make sure your team is following the rules," he smiled at Sky. "I'd actually like to take you and Syd to meet my parents at some point as well. I'd like them to know who I'm working with."

Before Sky could respond, an alarm went off, and both of their heads snapped round. They glanced back at each other, and without a word passing between them they took off running towards the control room to find out what the latest threat to Earth was. All thoughts faded from Sky's mind to be replaced by an almost calm Zen like state as he and his fellow Ranger mentally prepared themselves for battle.

Still, as they ran into the control center to get a briefing from Kat, Sky couldn't help a stray thought from passing through his head that he was glad that it had just been a rumor. After all, this was Space Patrol Delta, not some damn soap opera.


End file.
